Liberian rebel group orders forces to stop fighting

ALEXANDRA ZAVISAssociated Press Writer

Published Wednesday, July 23, 2003

MONROVIA, Liberia -- Rebels waging a brutal battle for control of Liberia's capital announced a cease-fire Tuesday, a day after mortars rained down on the city in some of the bloodiest fighting in three years of civil war.

At the same time, West African defense chiefs were trying to work out details of a long-awaited peacekeeping force many Liberians believe could have averted Monday's carnage.

Despite the order to stop fighting, rebels traded machine-gun and grenade fire near three bridges connecting Monrovia's port to the northern suburbs and downtown -- symbolic heart of the country and site of President Charles Taylor's offices.

Sporadic shelling also persisted, with one round striking a house across the street from the U.S. Embassy compound. Shrapnel rained down on a second house next-door.

Three people were killed and two seriously wounded near the embassy. Grief-stricken relatives gathered around pools of blood and held up mortar fragments.

"Our sisters and brothers are dying for nothing," said James Guanue, the brother of one of the dead. "We really need a peacekeeping force to come."

Aid workers were removing the last of the bodies dragged in front of the U.S. Embassy on Monday by enraged residents, demanding to know when the United States would send troops to the country founded by freed American slaves more than 150 years ago.

Hospital officials and aid groups counted more than 100 killed Monday, but the toll was believed to be much higher. Defense Minister Daniel Chea placed it at well over 600.

Chea demanded the international community either send peacekeepers immediately or lift an arms embargo imposed by the United Nations to punish Taylor's regime for trading guns for diamonds with Sierra Leone's rebels. "Our people are being held hostage," he said.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the United States had not decided whether to send troops.

"The situation in Liberia now is dynamic," he said in Washington. "We're continuing to monitor events closely."

Three U.S. ships with 2,000 Marines and 2,500 sailors aboard moved toward the Mediterranean Sea, where they were to await orders. Typically, the 2,000 Marines would go ashore.

Some Pentagon officials said President Bush was inclined to send in a smaller contingent -- perhaps several hundred Marines -- enough to provide command and communications support for the West African force.

On Monday, half of a team of 41 Marines arrived to protect the embassy, and their helicopters evacuated 23 foreigners, most of them humanitarian workers. The rest of the group was delayed by the mortar attack, and there was no indication when they would arrive.

Meanwhile, government and rebel delegates meeting in nearby Accra, Ghana, struggled to meet a deadline Tuesday to agree to details of a unity government promised under a repeatedly violated June 17 cease-fire.

Despite continued differences, Charles Benny of the main rebel movement, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Development, expressed satisfaction with recent progress on the peacekeeping force. "Our troops are being told to cease fire," he said.